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Alumni
Review #9, Class of 2001 |
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| College
Enrolled |
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Johns Hopkins University |
| Home
Town, State (Country) |
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Chestertown,NY |
| Years
Attended Boarding School |
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2 |
| Activities
During Boarding School |
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amnesty interntational, get rid of homophobia, community service learning, recreational volleyball |
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| 1.) What was the best thing that happened to you in boarding school? |
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| I think the best thing that ever happened to me at Deerfield was acknowledging that the school was in no way reflective of the world. It is NOT a microcosm of society. Not fitting in at Deerfield Academy does NOT make you a socially reprehensible freak. It probably makes you somewhat normal. |
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| 2.) What would you have done differently during your boarding school experience? |
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| I would have gone to a different, more liberal, open-minded boarding school. |
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| 3.) What would you never want to change about your school? |
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| The dedication of the teachers, and the beautiful setting. |
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| 4.) What things could be improved about your school? |
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| Deerfield needs to be brought into the present. It functions on antiquated values. The headmaster is a fossil. The school has a real drug problem that it refuses to deal with, as well as a hazing problem. |
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| 5.) Do you have any final words of wisdom for visiting or incoming students
to your school? |
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| Unless you come from New England and look and think like everyone else in your town, don't even think about it. You'll hate it. |
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| 1.)
What did you like best about your school’s academics? |
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| There were many very concerned teachers with whom students could form personal relationships. The teachers were, for the most part, highly educated and extremely knowledgeable. There was a lot of personal attention due to small class size. |
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| 2.)
What did you like least about the academics in your school? |
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| There was a lack of variety in languages taught- Russian, Japanese, Korean, and Italian are notably absent. They were also often so intense that the precluded having any kind of social life at all. There was a teaching intern program as well that brought less intelligent, lower-quality, less experienced temporary faculty. |
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| 1.)
What did you like best about your school’s athletics? |
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| There were recreational athletic options. |
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| 2.)
What did you like least about the athletics in your school? |
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| Athletics were compulsory, competitive, and often brought out the worst kind of mob dynamic among students. Big football, lacrosse, and hockey games almost always involved nastiness between teams. |
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| 1.)
What did you like best about your school’s art program? |
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| The students involved in these programs were extremely talented, and much personal attention was given by highly qualified faculty. |
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| 2.)
What did you like least about your school’s art program? |
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| Arts were mostly cultivated, as far as I could see, for the entertainment of the alumni and trustees. Only two trimesters of fine arts were required and students were not encouraged to take more than this allotted amount of the arts. They were seen, in short, as optional and not very important. |
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| 1.)
What did you like most about the extracurricular activities offered
at your school? |
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| Students had a chance to create a wide variet y of extracurricular groups, and because each group had a faculty advisor, it fostered good relationships between faculty and students. Groups such as Amnesty International and Get Rid of Homophobia were extremely important in such a seemingly valueless setting. |
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| 2.)
What did you like least about the extracurricular activities offered
at your school? |
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| We really didn't have enough time or resources allotted (although the school could have afforded to fund us much better) to make our groups effective. |
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| 1.)
What was the best thing about dorm life in your school? |
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| The whole thing was miserable. The only saving grace was that we could, after freshman yr, request to live with 1-2 friends and that mostly eveyone had his or her own room. |
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| 2.)
What did you like least about dorm life? |
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| We had almost no visiting hours, no co-ed privacy, which made sexual intimacy quite an awkward situation. The curfews were unrealistic- 8:00 at night for 14 and 15 yr olds, 10:00 for 16 and 17 yr olds. |
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| 1.)
What was the best thing about your dining arrangements? |
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| Just about anyone could walk into our dining hall. Our dining service provider was a part of the school. There were decent vegetarian and vegan provisions. |
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| 2.)
What did you like least about your dining arrangements? |
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| We had compulsory sit-down meals, in which we had to sit at a table with faculty and a random group of students. If we missed meals, we eccrued accountability points. This was always an awkward, pointless, and time-consuming endeavour. |
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| 1.) How welcome did you feel by the other students when you first
arrived at the school? |
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| Deerfield is an extremely intimidating place. It consists of a lot of very spoiled New England children who have been told for their entire lives how beautiful, intelligent, and privileged they are. As I was a middle class girl from public school, I found it hard initially to make friends. Over the years, I managed to make friends, but I still never felt too welcome. It wasn't until college that I made very good friends. |
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| 2.)
Describe the level of diversity and integration of students in your
school: |
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| On paper, we look pretty diverse, but in reality, if you are not white (preferably blonde), wealthy (preferably from New England), and heterosexual, you will feel lost at Deerfield. |
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| 3.)
Describe typical fun activities you did on a weekend: |
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| Movies, shopping, homework, work, sado-masochism, methamphetamine. |
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| 4.)
What was the town like? |
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| Students occasionally went into Greenfield, but you have to pay $5 each way to get there by cab. There was a movie theater and a few restaurants, a music store, and that's about it. If you really want to do something interesting, you have to get to Northampton, which is about 20 minutes away and can be difficult to do without breaking a lot of rules. |
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| 7:00 AM | wake up, shower | | 8:00 AM | class 1 | | 9:00 AM | class 2 | | 9:45 AM | class 3 | | 10:45 AM | free period- homework | | 11:30 AM | sit-down lunch | | 12:30 AM | class 4 | | 1:30 PM | class 5 | | 2:15 PM | free period-homework | | 3:00 PM | free time- prepare for sports/ community service, change out of dress clothes | | 3:45 PM | community service/ sports | | 5:45 PM | sit-down dinner | | 7:00 PM | club meetings | | 8:30 PM | homework, occasionally socializing | | 1:00 AM | bedtime | |
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| 11:00 AM | wake up, get dressed, lunch? | | 12:00 AM | work at school snack bar | | 5:30 PM | dinner | | 7:00 PM | going out- movie, shopping, dinner, etc.- LEAVE CAMPUS AT ALL COSTS | | 11:30 PM | curfew- socialize in dorm | | 1:00 AM | homework | | 4:00 AM | bedtime | |
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